(AGENPARL) – mer 29 maggio 2024 Issued: May 29, 2024 (6:12pm EDT)
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EPA issues Superfund cleanup plan for East Waterway
Aggressive plan would cleanup over 120 acres of contaminated sediment
SEATTLE (May 29, 2024) – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency
finalized an aggressive $401 million plan to reduce the amount of pollution in
Seattle’s East Waterway, one of two industrial channels of the Lower
Duwamish River below the Spokane Street Bridge. The Port of Seattle, the City
of Seattle, and King County will be responsible for conducting the cleanup.
East Waterway is one of seven sections, or “operable units,” of the larger
Harbor Island Superfund Site which was placed on EPA’s National Priorities
List in 1983 due to high levels of contaminants that accumulated over 150
years of urbanization and industrial development. These pollutants have
contaminated the food web in Seattle’s only river, posing health risks to
people who eat the local fish and shellfish. PCBs are the primary driver of
risk to people who eat contaminated fish or shellfish, or who are exposed to
contaminated sediment in the East Waterway.
The cleanup plan calls for aggressive efforts to reduce PCBs in East Waterway
sediments to a level equivalent to “non-urban background” or two parts per
billion, the same level the agency embraced for the cleanup of the Lower
Duwamish Superfund Site. The average concentration of PCBs in East Waterway
sediments is 460 parts per billion.
“Today’s action is a significant next step in removing PCBs and other
legacy contaminants in the Duwamish River,” said Casey Sixkiller EPA
Regional Administrator for the agency’s Pacific Northwest office in Seattle.
“Our plan builds on years of studies of the East Waterway and community
engagement, and furthers EPA’s commitment to applying the same aggressive
cleanup goals in the East Waterway as we have in other parts of the river.”
“We appreciate EPA’s commitment to our community’s vision of a clean and
healthy Green-Duwamish River,” said Laura Watson, director of the Washington
Department of Ecology. “Removing these PCB-laden sediments will help protect
the people and environment of the area. As we continue our work to reduce
pollution sources both in the East Waterway and upstream, we look forward to
seeing this sediment cleanup work begin.”
“We commend Regional Administrator Sixkiller and the EPA for demonstrating
their commitment to environmental justice by acknowledging a ONE RIVER
approach and releasing a health-protective plan created with robust community
input,” said Paulina Lopez, Executive Director of Duwamish River Community
Coalition. “This decision reflects years of the Duwamish community’s
protests, campaigns, and public comments supporting a healthy Duwamish River.
By centering the voices and priorities of those most impacted by pollution, we
can achieve solutions that improve the environment for everybody — our
Duwamish River is a River For All.”
The East Waterway cleanup plan consists of active cleanup of 120 acres of the
mile-long waterway, prescribing removal of approximately 960,000 cubic yards
of heavily contaminated sediment from 99 acres, on-site treatment of 12 acres
under docks and piers, and capping an additional seven acres with clean
material. A mix of other processes would be used to tackle the remaining
acreage. 
The cleanup plan complements other work in and around the Duwamish River,
including by EPA, the Washington Department of Ecology, other state and local
agencies, and industries to identify and reduce or eliminate the many sources
of pollution that contaminate the river and Puget Sound.  Each of these
efforts is critical to achieving non-urban background levels of PCBs. 
After the approximately 10 years of cleanup activities concludes, EPA will
evaluate the effectiveness of the cleanup and source control work to determine
what additional work, if any, is necessary to achieve cleanup goals. EPA will
then begin a new process to develop a final cleanup plan, called a Record of
Decision.
Until then, the cleanup plan released today is considered an Interim Record of
Decision.
Following 10 years of active cleanup work and a period of extensive
monitoring, the agency anticipates pollution levels in East Waterway sediments
would be significantly reduced, thus decreasing contamination levels in fish
and shellfish, and reducing risk for those who use the East Waterway for food
and recreation, as well as for their livelihoods.
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